The culturally iconic Volkswagen Beetle, officially known as the Type 1 but forever to be referred to in the English language as the “Bug”, was legendary among the annals of car-dom for many reasons, but horsepower and performance was never really one of them. But this isn’t your father’s bug, and despite gobs of horsepower and torque allowing it to do rather incredible things, it certainly ain’t Herbie either.

Image credit: GeorgiaDubs.com

With a stretched body and nose, a small shed for a rear wing/spoiler, and a pair of massive meats shoehorned between the rear quarters, this is essentially what you’d get if a Pro Modified car and a VW Beetle ran head-on into one another.

Ken Fisher of Fisher Buggies in Florida owns and drives this mean little machine that competes along the East coast and around Florida. The car features a traditional, 2.5-plus liter air-cooled powerplant mounted in the front of the car rather than the rear, with a large turbocharger protruding through the hood. Fisher actually completed the car back in mid-2000’s and has been into the 4.60’s at over 160 miles per hour in the eighth-mile with this “Bug” on steroids. No matter how you slice it, that’s some impressive performance from such a small, unconventional (in drag racing circle, anyway) engine combination.

Fisher is no stranger to fast VW-powered machines, with an Altered-style racer with a 3400cc motor with MFI on alcohol and a couple stages of nitrous oxide also in his arsenal.

Like the original Beetle, Fisher’s newest ride is a lot of things, but a hippie cruiser it ain’t. Check out the video of this thing in action!